Postmodernism and Race

victims of discrimination are either being asked to atone for their sins or to
become a more productive force in their communities. But working individually
or with communities is usually futile, when this effort is usurped by a stifling
economic system.

In capitalism, social reality has been constituted in several layers. This arrangement is neither natural nor inevitable, but the result of decisions made by
powerful interests about what is most important in this kind of society. What is
about to be said, therefore, is not an attempt to resurrect the standard base-
superstructure argument. Nonetheless, within capitalism, primacy is given to the
economic dimension of social life. The ability to be creative culturally, for example, depends on whether persons have at their disposal certain economic
resources.

Accordingly, social democracy is incumbent on democratizing economy, unless democratic activity is going to be restricted to particular enclaves. This
would be a utopian vision, as Marx notes, that is practically worthless. Before
democracy can be truly exercized, the economic barriers that stifle this progress
must be subverted. They must no longer be viewed as representing an inviolable
reality. Clearly, this is the message conveyed by postmodernists.

Both Marxists and postmodernists critique the autonomy of economic reality
within capitalism. However, their respective strategies are very different. Postmodernists illustrate that this task can be accomplished without invoking grand
schemes such as history and naturalistic laws. Instead, claims about economic
necessity can be revealed to be bombastic, as a result of demonstrating the fleshy
or carnivalesque character of this reality. This maneuver, claim postmodernists,
can be made without metaphysical props. And subsequent to this critique of
economics, democracy is made possible; political motivation can move the polity in this direction.

Mike Moore's sardonic documentary film Roger and Me gives a bittersweet account
of Moore's attempt to meet with General Motors president Roger Smith to discuss saving
the automobile plant in Flint, Michigan.

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